Oh how the mind goes.
Thinking I’d missed all of Saturday’s title jousts except the Quack, I was going write about it being Comeuppance Saturday, not Championship Saturday.
I was going to lede with a c d take on T.S.
This is the way the season ends/ This is the way the season ends/ This is the way the season ends/ Not with a bang but a whimper
Which of course I threw in anyway, even if it doesn’t actually apply. Continue reading Pigskin Palaver: Picks & Playdown
Those who abide my tomfoolery at Card Chronicle will get the snarky reference in the header. A poke at Glorious Editor’s periodic updates on all matters Cardinals, along with whatever else he’s thinking about at the moment to add as filler.
I hope he is, as usual, not paying attention.
Otherwise my office, currently a cardboard box that once contained GE’s new bassinet, might be downgraded. To, probably the discarded desk with only two legs behind the dumpster, next to the discarded Steve Kragthorpe voodoo doll.
Or maybe, just maybe, perhaps likely, he’s hungover from celebrating the only other thing we have in common besides our allegiance to U of L . . .
. . . the Detroit Lions.
Which 12-1 NFL power — whodathunk I could ever write those words — sealed a playoff berth last night with a walk off FG against the Packers. Continue reading Seedy’s Friday’s Noise & Nonsense
One might have thought that playing with 12 vs. 11, and with the solemn but sacred spirit force of the Aggie Bonfire tragedy 25 years ago, that A&M would have taken down their hated rival Longhorns on home turf in College Station.
I did.
But these Aggies didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to prevail, like say The Bear’s Junction Boys.
So, I missed that one.
But . . . and it’s a mighty But . . . that was the only game I got wrong.
NC State over Mack Brown, mes freres, that was a gimme. Sayonara Coach, we really appreciate all you did and wish you and yours all the best in the future.
Tennessee over Vandy. It was tough, but predictable.
That Curt Cignetti would keep the pedal to the metal until the final gun: I-N-E -V-I-T-A-B-L-E. The Hoosiers went all Phillips 66 on the hapless Boilermakers.
U of L over Arch Rival. SMACKDOWN.
4-1 for the last weekend of the regular campaign. 61-22 for the season, my BOAT predictioneering.
And, now for Championship Week . . .
. . . this week’s winners: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Title Week
It is said that the word “defense” derives from an Old French term, which originated around 1300 give or take a year from the Latin “defensus.”
The French term “defense” it is also reported by those who know etymology is a past participle “defendre.”
What, you wanted me to get right to it.
Pshaw.
If Fun is Bowling to those mired in a traffic jam along Shelbyville Road, Fun is Giddiness for Cardinal fans, who finally have reached a state of exorcism on a frigid Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field.
Louisville 41 , Kentucky 14.
Demons be gone.
And, harkening back to the lede . . .
. . . Game Ball to U of L’s Defense.
Which brings us to my personal Play of the Game. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Kentucky
There have obviously been improbable results for Louisville Basketball through the years.
Either by the final result, or the manner of victory (or defeat), or the margin of said score at 00:00.
But, for the life of me, I simply at this juncture, about a half an hour after the buzzer, cannot remember one as beautifully dumbfounding and improbable as what happened this Day Before Thanksgiving 2024.
Louisville 89, #14 Indiana 61.
Louisville 89, #14 Indiana 61.
One more glance at the official box to make sure that is not a typo, that I am remembering correctly.
And one more repetition . . .
. . . because my fingers are so happy typing it out.
Louisville 89, #14 Indiana 61.
And the absolute truth, to use a well worn cliché, which absolutely is apropos, The Game Was Not Nearly That Close.
At 5:45 left, Kasean Pryor stole the ball, streaked down for a fast break slam, making the score 82-45.
+37.
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Game Ball to Pat Kelsey. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Indiana
Last weekend was one where I was pretty pretty pretty bold with my picks.
Kansas has been playing well of late. I’m still not sold on the whole Sanders shtick in Colorado. Although son is a fine QB. So, picking the Jayhawks seemed logical. Which proved a correct assessment.
Plus, as with interest rates, it’s fun when Prime goes down.
North Carolina has been reeling. BC in November is not a nice place to play. And I’ve had Mack Brown atop my Dead Man Walking list for weeks now. BC won. Tar Heel AD Bubba Cunningham finally had enough of Brown, saying sayonara a few days after my pick played out.
Ohio State, Texas and Louisville were all pretty easy choices. But hey.
In the PAC2 title game, I came thissssssssssssss close to tabbing Oregon State. But I didn’t. Had the game finished 20 seconds earlier, I would have registered my second perfecto of the season. But it didn’t. A truly back and forth affair was my miss of the weekend.
5-1 for the weekend. 57-21 on the season.
Not bad.
This week’s winners: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Rivalry Week
Mea culpa.
I was not at the RR Yard for the game. Watched in the SeedyDome. With a couple of pals, one of whom — Bookstore Billy — I haven’t seen for awhile and is in from out of town. And Smarts. Then Billy’s son came by.
Given that the game got out of hand in the good guy’s favor early on, our distractions and bon mots and diversions and rehashing of tales told many times over took over the afternoon.
Usually, as odd as it may seem, I take copious notes from which I cull the swill I pass along as a game report.
Saturday I jotted down less than 20 words after the half, at which time Louisville led 27 zip.
Here they are quoted in toto.
In the 3d:
“Bell 68 y bobble sideline TD”
“FG”
In the 4th:
“Corey Thornton pick”
“3 QB 3 picks”
“TS still in game?”
“Dan Furman RB” Continue reading U of L CardFile: Pittsburgh
The kid was back on his game last weekend.
And would have been more so if his faves, the University of Louisville Cardinals, hadn’t spit out the bit like one of those Cosmo-trained “thoroughbreds” back in the day at Miles Park.
It was such the choke job. He says, obviously not having worked through the totality of his dismay just yet. Days later.
Yo, Seedy, aren’t you the soothsayer who proclaims, “It’s only a game?”
Asking for an inner guru.
That disappointment was my only miscue, prediction-wise.
Florida prevailed in the upset I advised would come about. My guess is Brian Kelly has beefed up his personal security there in Baton Rouge. Them Bayou diehards don’t appreciate being let down like that, especially by an interloper.
Pitt thought they had Clemson beat. But didn’t. Southern Cal prevailed. Kentucky won its scrimmage.
4-1 for the weekend. 52-20 on the year.
This week’s winners: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week XIII
Not talking Atomic Dogs or underdogs.
Had enough of the latter on gameday to last until the 12th of Never.
(OK, maybe in a bit, hoping that a bit more venting might ease the pain of that epic meltdown.)
Talking real dog dogs.
And my favorite moment of Pigskin Saturday.
Context:
I discovered the empowering unconditional love of canines late in life. In the summer of ’04 when I met my future bride Joanie’s black Lab. Lilah the Love Dog.
We connected. The canine and future Mrs.. Such that the dear canine soon enough began sleeping on the floor beside my side of the bed. Much to the faux dismay of the Film Babe.
Then there was Abbey. The Sad Eyed Lady of the Highlands. The beagle who stole my heart and soul forever and always when we met at a rescue dog event at Hogan’s Fountain.
She ran to me sitting on the ground and started licking my face. I mean, come on, how you gonna turn away from that?
With all due respect to my bride, my family, U of L sports, Impellizzeri’s pizza and JazzFest, Abbey was and remains the Great Love of My Life.
Gone now years later, I still talk with her almost daily, standing at that portrait Joanie crafted, which you see above.
Then, Carbon, the Frenchie who never could get enough of my touch.
Which brings me to College Game Day from Athens. Continue reading Pigskin Palaver: Saturday’s Dog Day Afternoon
In moments like this, Denny Crum had a go to line.
“We didn’t have a healthy respect for our opponent.”
The University of Louisville Cardinals obviously did not for the Stanford Cardinal.
Singular 38, Plural 35.
More often than not, you get what you deserve.
Like Saturday afternoon in Silicon Valley.
Stanford persevered. They deserved to win.
Louisville did not. And didn’t.
* * * * *
When considering why games are won and lost, a factor always to be considered is statistical disparity. On occasion they are dispositive of the outcome. Continue reading U of L CardFile: Stanford